Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 12 – No. 3210 August 07, 2010
Thought for the week: "A person's character is like a fence. It cannot be strengthened by whitewash." – Unknown
"A good way to have the last word is to apologize." – Barbara Johnson
"Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up." – Robert Frost
"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own." – Benjamin Disraeli
"Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. Give your dreams all you've got and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you." – William James
"Before you can score, you must first have a goal." – Unknown
"Know yourself. Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful." – Unknown
"Because you're able to do it and because you have the right to do it, doesn't mean it's right to do it." – Unknown
A new pastor moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. Someone obviously was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times. Finally, he took out his card, wrote on the back, "Revelation 3:20" and stuck it in the door.
(Revelation 3:20 reads: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.")
The next day, as he was counting the offering, he found his card in the collection plate. Below his message was a notation, "Genesis 3:10."
(Genesis 3:10 reads: "And he said, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.")
"Some of our most painful regrets are for opportunities lost." – John Greenleaf
Some people spend a lot of time thinking about yesterday's regrets and tomorrow's worries. "Opportunities" happen today. Opportunities are all around us if we will just look. When we focus on today, we forget about yesterday's regrets and tomorrow's worries. We can't take action on the past or the future. However, we can "DO" something now; we can "DO" something today. Worry, fear, regrets as well as guilt, are not from God. They are 'roadblocks' to finding opportunities and achievement in life.
In reflection, I can't get along without some help along the way. It's not that I would get into trouble, nor that I couldn't handle a job, it's just that I need a helping hand. The mark of a man in our society is that he can accomplish great things by himself, but when his life is over, he leaves a large stone monument, and is soon forgotten.
As a Christian, a small headstone and good character is a better legacy. We generally remember those who gave a helping hand in time of need, for life goes better when we are gracious with our words, and generous with our deeds.
For the last two months I've been stuck in the book of Ezra. I relate to him in that he knew his scriptures, and was well versed in the laws of Moses. A descendant of Aaron, Ezra lived what he taught and, because of his stature as a teacher, was ordained by King Artaxerxes to go to Jerusalem.
A contingent of Jews several decades earlier had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the foundations of the temple. The work was tedious and difficult, but they needed to learn how to worship God. They needed someone to guide them in the laws of God given to Moses. This was the job for Ezra; and he said he was ready to go.
He, along with about 1500 other men and families, camped for three days before starting out. They fasted and prayed for safety on their trip, a journey of perhaps 1000 miles. The trip took four months of travel through dangerous desert areas, home to robbers and bandits. Upon arriving in Jerusalem, he said that the gracious hand of God was upon them, for they were carrying tons of gold and silver; freewill gifts destined to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
In practical application the "gracious hand of God" means that when God has a task for us, he has already prepared us. For some, preparation time may be extensive. In Ezra's case, he remained in Babylon until he was needed in Jerusalem. God watches over us and protects us from unknown terror, providing everything we need for our journey. Today, we may be called upon to do a small job or a big task because we've been prepared—prepared to help a friend, or a neighbor. Tomorrow you may be called upon to do something in a small, seemingly insignificant way, for it is the gracious hand of God leading you. The key is to be available, for when you extend your helping hand, you're extending the gracious hand of God.
Many years ago, while watching a little TV on Sunday, I watched a church in Atlanta vetting one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. He was 92 at that time, and I wondered why the church bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age. After a warm welcome, as the applause quieted down, he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly, with great effort and a sliding gate to the podium. Without a note or written paper of any kind, he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself, and then quietly and slowly he began to speak:
"When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50 odd years of preaching. I thought about it for a few days, and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me ... the only thing that would comfort was this verse from the children's hymn:
"Jesus loves me this I know / For the Bible tells me so / Little ones to him belong / We are weak but he is strong. / Yes, Jesus loves me / Yes, Jesus loves me / Yes, Jesus loves me / The Bible tells me so."
When he finished, the church was quiet. You actually could hear his footsteps as he shuffled back to his chair. I don't believe I will ever forget it.
Racing dogs are trained to chase a mechanical rabbit that always goes a little faster than the fleetest dog. This causes them to run faster than they otherwise would.
Companies that annually set overly ambitious performance objectives for their employees employ this greyhound principle. To a point, it works. Most people achieve more when expectations are set high.
The strategy turns negative, however, when firms chasing Wall Street's rabbit continually set "no-excuses" double-digit growth goals without regard to market realities (including multiple competitors driving toward the same goals) or systemic understaffing (part of the "do more with less" philosophy). Consequently, many corporate leaders are caught up in a ceaseless upward spiral of stress.
Yes, the financial rewards for such success are ample, but the driving motivation is usually not greed and certainly not job satisfaction. It's fear. This can often morph into desperation, a dangerous mindset that can spawn imprudent short-term decisions and outright cheating.
It's unwise and unethical to ignore the business and moral implications of aggressive growth strategies that put executives under unprecedented, unrelenting, and unreasonable pressure.
On one level, it's a matter of values. Work-life balance should be more than a rhetorical ideal. A good company cares about its people. The path to career success shouldn't be littered with the ruins of failed marriages and neglected children.
On another level, it's long-term self-interest. Without an abundant and replenishing pool of talented and committed leaders, no company will succeed for long. The organizations that will pull away in the next decades are those that can attract and retain the best talent because the firms are places where those people want to work—and that will take a lot more than money.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!' For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; Make his paths straight."'"1
At the memorial service remembering the anniversary of the terrible abduction and murder of young Samantha Runnion, Bradley Scott, aged 4, had a question for Sheriff Mike Carona—the sheriff who was so emotionally involved in the capture of Samantha's killer. Bradley asked the sheriff how he could go to heaven without dying.
"That's an incredible question, Pal," Carona replied. "Sorry, I don't have an answer."2
I can vividly remember as a kid how I believed the way to heaven was by being good. I figured that if I did enough good things to outweigh the bad things I did, that would satisfy God and I would go to heaven.
Wrong. In today's Scripture we read how John the Baptist was warning the people of ancient Israel that the long-promised Messiah (Jesus the Christ) was coming, and to prepare El Camino Real (the King's Highway) for him. This was all about Jesus' first coming to die for our sins, and that only through accepting him as our Savior and receiving his forgiveness could we get to heaven.
Today, we too need to prepare El Camino Real for Jesus Christ's second coming to earth. Jesus himself promised his disciples and followers that if he went away (back to Heaven), which he did, that he would return for all his true followers. One of these days, the heavenly trumpet will sound, announcing the climax of mankind's history with the coming again of Jesus, the Messiah, to take all his true followers to be with him in Heaven forever and ever.
I trust, dear reader, that you are safely on the heavenly Camino Real—the King's Highway—knowing without a shadow of doubt that when Jesus comes, you will not be left behind, but on your way to Heaven to be with God for all eternity. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."3
Note: To be sure you are on the Highway of the King read "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: http://www.actsweb.org/christian.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you have provided the Camino Real as mankind's only way to Heaven which is via the cross of Jesus who died to save me from my sins. Help me to know without a shadow of doubt that I have accepted Jesus as my Savior and am safely on the Highway of the King, bound for Heaven. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
Note: El Camino Real is Spanish for The Highway of the King, or The Royal Road.
1. Matthew 3:2-3 (NKJV).
2. The Orange Country Register, July 16, 2003, p. Local 2.
3. John 14:6 (NIV).
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